


Player’s Phase (On Canon Material, Fandom Racism, and Racially Transformative Fan Works in Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

by MercurialComet



Series: Happy Birthday Dedue. [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Character Study, Essays, Gen, Happy Birthday Dedue, I am making a point about fandom racism in work as a gift, In every form, Meta, Metafiction, Race, Racism, What Makes Fanworks Transformative?, Work study, i see you, this means all the people who fetishize Black people too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26200900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercurialComet/pseuds/MercurialComet
Summary: (Or, I talk about how, as a Black guy, this game [and if we're being honest, this series] continues to disrespect Black people, how the fandom is slightly better, and what it will actually take to change it)
Series: Happy Birthday Dedue. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902901
Comments: 33
Kudos: 102





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [(don't you know? talking about a revolution) auditum parvum](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23272375) by [MercurialComet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercurialComet/pseuds/MercurialComet). 



> Hello!!!! Thank you for reading.

_Content Warning: racism, mentions of genocide, and white supremacy._

_Fire Emblem_. The turn-based game series by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems that originated in 1990 and got me hooked into it in 2013 with _Awakening_. For those who don’t know every _Fire Emblem_ game is a mixture between a role-playing board game and visual novel, with the player controlling a cast of characters as they fight through battles and advance a plot that can differ from installment to installment. The skills that a unit has in-game usually relates to a part of their character in story.

This brings us to Dedue Molinaro and _Fire Emblem: Three Houses_. 

Dedue Molinaro is a character that can become a starting member of your party if you pick one of the three houses of the Officer’s Academy. He is a dark skinned, Black-coded, 18 year old who is the vassal- the right hand man- to Dimitri, the prince of the Kingdom of Faerghus. 

I would like to take a walk through the canon and fanon material of _Three Houses_ , using the writing and treatment of Dedue as a sort of measuring stick to see the similarities between the two before attempting to describe the changes needed for racially transformative fanworks (and transformative fanworks in general).

# Canon Dedue

In canon _Three Houses_ , Dedue is written to be ride-and-die loyal to Dimitri. Whenever you’re walking around the monastery in between battles, the two can usually be found next to each other, and if you bring Dedue to tea, some of the dialogue that can pop up directly revolves around his “life debt” to the prince. I am somewhat hesitant to claim that these mannerisms fully fall into the trope of the “Black butler/caretaker”, but there are in-game interactions where Dimitri is about to over exert himself and Dedue asks the player to step in, and I wouldn’t know what else to call it. (To be completely fair, Dimitri also asks Dedue to take a break too.)

While we’re talking about the relationship between Dedue and Dimitri, we also need to talk about this “life debt” and the inherent white savior that Dimitri is set up to be. Dedue is not a native citizen of Faerghus, instead coming from the smaller nation of Duscur. Before the game, people from Duscur are implicated and blamed for an ambush that kills most of the royal family.

In retaliation, Faerghus burns down most of Duscur, kills most of its citizens, and even takes land away to give to one of the Faerghus nobility. Dedue, who is around 14 years old at the time, is nearly attacked by a knight before Dimitri throws himself between the two and tells the knight to stand down. The entire base of their relationship relies on the fact that Dimitri does not believe that all of Duscur was responsible for the ambush and murder of his dad. In fact, most times when Duscur is brought up in plot relevant scenes, it is in regards to the ambush of the Faerghus king rather than the country, and it seeks to further Dimitri’s character, the prince who is seeing his kingdom destroy a country, instead of Dedue’s, the blacksmith’s child who is seeing his country be destroyed. Dedue isn't given the space to talk about how he feels about that event.

White saviorism isn’t just delegated to Faerghus in-game, but this is the most insidious version of it, where in the actions of being a white savior, Dimitri ignores the power he has to directly help Duscur rebuild and only focuses on punishing those who framed the country (and following that train of thought, is only focusing on those who killed his father instead of the actions taken afterwards to kill many fathers, mothers, parents, children, etc).

In-game, Dedue faces prejudice from many different places. In his own house, he has to deal with the racism from Ingrid, who has a hatred of people from Duscur listed in her character profile throughout the entire game, and Felix, who constantly verbally insults and attacks Dedue, even going so far as to call him a dog. During different chapters of the game, there are times where you can see nameless NPC’s making bold and disgusting claims about Dedue’s involvement in different events around the academy, mostly when it comes to the kidnapping of a young girl and accusations of future theft. Dedue hand-waves all of this, and the only time that someone else seems to talk about them is once in a scene between Dimitri and Dedue where Dimitri uses his social power as a prince to get two knights to stop gossiping about Dedue. A few of the interactions that Dedue has with other characters have moments that revolve around how he behaves, mostly when it comes to the impassive expression he generally wears.

In the end, the biggest issue with how Dedue is treated in-game revolves around his paralogue, an optional mission that focuses on a character. His paralogue is _War for the Weak_ , and involves a Duscur-led rebellion to take back some of the land that was stolen from them, which is a great premise, until you realize that you are fighting the rebellion, using Dedue to help squash it under the guise of sparing the rebels from the more hostile (yet allied) Kingdom forces.

There’s a lot to unpack in this paralogue. There’s the entire premise of forcibly squashing a rebellion for the return of stolen land, the difference between the Black 3d models and the white portrait art of Duscur soldiers, the laughable difference between the levels and skills of Duscur soldiers and Faerghus soldiers, and the fact that **Dedue dies off-screen if you don’t complete this paralogue before the end of the first act**.

Dedue is the only playable character whose paralogue has a direct impact on his survival, and it is handled poorly in-game. The fact that there is a possibility that Dedue is not alive for the entire second act forces him to be written out of the narrative and be replaced by two side characters that have fleeting moments of plot importance. **Dedue is the only character who can be fridged (killed off to advance another character’s plot) for Dimitri’s character arc in-game** , and literally nothing else I can say can explain the issue of representation and treatment that Intelligent Systems gave with his character arc. He only grows in relation to Dimitri, and very little is done towards his own character. He exists more as a plot point and a prop for Dimitri to prove that the Kingdom isn’t “all racist”, even as they work to never help Duscur out of the poor situation that the nation was forced into.

# Fanon Dedue

Now, fanfiction is the democratization of art, right? It gives power to the people and fans to create their own narratives using beloved characters and universes. One would think that when it comes to all fanworks: art, writing, etc, people would be thinking about how they portray characters of color.

I feel like I should now talk about the racism that Dedue faces in the _Three Houses_ fandom.

If we simply look at the tag for Dedue in AO3 (which honestly, I would not recommend if you don’t know the horrors that can exist on AO3), we can see many of the same issues that plagues the man in canon: reduction to a background character, white saviorism, and servitude. The only difference is that there is now a ship involved: Dimidue.

For those of you who don’t know, a ship is when fans take two characters and put them into a relationship. That relationship does not have to be written out in the canon work, and you could come up with practically any ship that you want with little regards to how much it makes sense. Dimidue is the ship name of Dimitri and Dedue, and it is one of Dedue’s most popular ships. Most fics that include the ship have elements of the codependency that is inherent in canon, with Dedue keeping an eye on Dimitri’s every need and Dimitri always looking out to see if Dedue is okay and well.

However, very few fics seem to talk about the unbalanced power dynamic that Dimitri and Dedue have and work on fixing it to make them equals. Imagine: you are watching your house and city get burned down, you’re about to be murdered in cold blood, and the prince of the kingdom that is doing this to you and your people chooses to save you specifically. There is a visible difference in how this relationship is formed from the jump: Dimitri’s authority as a prince both saves Dedue, but also forces him to repay the prince’s actions back by being in his service for his whole life.

There are very obvious real life parallels to what this could be considered, but none of them scream “romance” to me.

Continuing on, there are also a lot of rather stereotypical and harmful elements that are added under the gaze of (white) fanon material. When there is fanart of the Blue Lions house, Dedue seems to be excluded at an alarming rate. People will draw 4 out of the 5 male characters in the house, title it “Blue Lion Boys!”, and I, being a Black guy, will notice the lack of melanin and a lack of Dedue in the picture. Sometimes, Dedue is in the art, but his skin is lightened to a significant degree, a practice known as whitewashing. I have even seen art where Dedue is made out to be brutal, monstrous, or otherwise an “other” compared to his fellow classmates. I have seen fanart that fetishizes Dedue through stereotypes applied strongly to Black men. There is even a "Dedue Bear Week", which while I cannot claim is overtly and made with racist ideals in mind, I can say that seems to ignore the constant othering of Black people and treating Black people as animals, such as in real life "Black zoos". I can say that **in game** an NPC describes that Dedue can be confused for a bear during Crimson Flower Part 2. 

In the end, very few fics work to actually explore Dedue, but only work to affirm what is ultimately what the game sidelines Dedue to: a character who can only connect to Dimitri, a yes man, someone who will do anything for a prince of the kingdom that killed his people.

This is still bad.

# Transformative Dedue

So, what would be transformative? To be transformative, one must cause a marked change in someone or something, so I would argue that a transformative fan work causes a marked change in theme of the original work. To give a good explanation that most people would understand, the first fan work I would consider to be transformative would be [ _North American Tournament_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5127710/chapters/11798057), which is a _Harry Potter_ fanfic currently written by an anonymous author on AO3. This fic works to pull apart the culture of Magical Britain that J.K Rowling establishes in her books, specifically in _The Goblet Of Fire_. _North American Tournament_ takes a revolving cast and allows different characters to vent and show different perspectives while staying in universe and mostly in character according to canon.

When it comes to Dedue and _Three Houses_ , I would like to plug my own (in progress) fanfic: [ _auditum parvum_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23272375), which puts more of a focus on the intricacies of racism and prejudice in-game. The transformative aspect of the fic comes from how Dedue’s perspective is written to be more active than canon, where he starts making decisions for himself and his people. There’s also a lot of heavy worldbuilding when it comes to Duscur and its culture that has to be done because of the lack of attention given to it by the game. In _auditum parvum_ , Duscur is no longer a stagnant plot point only used for a bad paralogue and to further a white savior, but as a country with a history and ideals, a symbol of home and safety. Dedue has healthy interactions with characters that the game won’t let him have and works through complex situations regarding his own place in Faerghus and near Dimitri. Prejudiced characters actually receive consequences for their actions, and there is an exploration as to why those prejudices are so rampant in society. Characters from Duscur are fleshed out respectfully, allowing a more natural representation of Black culture and how it intersects with many other identities, such as gender, sexuality, disability, and non-Black heritage than what the game provides (which is about 4 lines and weak NPC troops) better than what non-transformative fandom has presented.

To have a transformative fanwork, a creator must be willing to put in the time and research to make it respectful. If they must ask a person for their opinions on a portrayal of their culture, race, creed, ability, etc, they must find a way to compensate that person respectfully and to an agreeable degree.

To interact with a transformative fanwork, a person must allow the work the same level of suspension of disbelief that they gave the original work. The feeling that a character may be written “out of canon” is not a viable excuse to write off a transformative fanwork, just proof that the audience hasn’t attempted to see if the character has been written consistently.

To have a transformative fanwork, one must ask questions that will probably make people uncomfortable about how they interact with the original media. And that’s fine.

There’s always another fanwork somewhere.


	2. Postscript

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some extra things, because I love nuance and hearing myself talk (or reading myself type?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this two days ago because [I noticed a trend](https://twitter.com/mercurialcomet/status/1301533110669107200), and now I think this will be the last installment of this. Just a cute little postscript to tie it all together.
> 
> Fair warning, there is a passing mention of ABO (that critiques it), so if that irks you out, skip the bulletpoint that reads: A work being transformative does not necessarily make it good and know that they may still require critique.
> 
> Also, I go crazy with bolds because I just need to get the words straight.

Hey again.

So, I first would like to thank everyone who read, kudos'd, commented, and shared this. It's been on my mind for a while and I'm glad that at least a majority of y'all seem interested and actively acting in good faith.

That being said, I have like, 2 more things to say.

1\. Was my use of "Black-coded" in my description of Dedue accurate or dicey? Potentially. I say this in the comments, but there's a lack of knowledge on the finer details of Duscur, and where the culture is even based from. I mention that in my readings and perspective, a lot of people seem to read him as either Black, Indigenous, or both, but of course my perspective is an American perspective that doesn't fit nicely within either Japanese or Medieval European standards.

However, I do think that the onus shouldn't be on me (or any other reader) to have to accurately guess what seems to not exist. How am I supposed to know an inspiration for a culture if it's never mentioned? Khalid, Cyril, and Almyra have strong Persian roots, Petra and Brigid seem to have Filipino and Irish inspiration, and Shamir and Dagda seem to have some Asian influences. Duscur is just kind of there, with the only thing we can guess as cultural inspiration being Italian with Dedue's last name, and if I really want to talk about it (but I won't because I Am Busy And Kind) I would love to think about why that could be.

(Also, justice for Sreng, Morfis, and Albinea, wth)

2\. Some people are so close. So close! It's kind of infuriating. The main reason I'm writing this out, beyond the whole "Duscur isn't described beyond like, 4 lines," is because I'm starting to see a pattern of people who need the extra step, so I'm going to just put these points out there now.

  * I am not the Grand Sovereign over what makes a work transformative.



Honestly, do I wish I could be? Do I wish to wake up everyday and find my inbox flooded with fics and art and other fanworks from **every fandom** and have to decide what fits where? _**Absolutely not, I have classes and friends that I actually enjoy interacting with.**_

Besides, the internet has allowed for a stronger sense of academic discussion and direct democracy, so although I can absolutely share my theory, someone else can share a rival one, and neither of us have that much power to enforce it (unless a person uses their internet following or pulls a Msscribe / Inner Circle / Cassandra Clare thing and I don't know about y'all, but I am comfortably sitting below 300 followers on any social media so....haha).

  * A work not being transformative does not necessarily make it bad



Sometimes, you just want to write a meet cute between your OTP, and who am I to judge that? I've done the same. I am just also aware of the content and the characters involved.

  * A work being transformative does not necessarily make it good



...There are a few extra things I want to say about this, but I will wait till my winter break. Just know that, while some works will fall into my definition of being transformative, they will also have harmful themes and tropes (...as much as I hate to even type this out.... think about A/B/O fics with high amounts of sexism, misogyny, transphobia/gender bioessentialism, and sexual violence, even if there are somehow NO women in them).

  * So, what is the point of this all? Why worry about transformative works?



The point of this all is really to point out **fandom racism and racism in media**. I chose Fire Emblem to do so, but I feel comfortable enough saying that I could go into nearly any fandom and point out the same things. I could use this to point out **fandom ableism, fandom sexism, fandom homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, etc**. The possibilities are endless. I could've been meaner and really dug through every instance of it all in this game and fandom, through Fire Emblem game to point it all out, every fandom I am a part of, people from other fandoms to make the **your-fandom-is-problematic** **masterlist** , but I am Kind, so I did not.

(Although if someone else chooses to, I will hear them out because they deserve to be heard out with respect and good intentions.)

This is **equally** about transformative works and the context and behaviors behind them. **An anti-racist work should strive to be continually anti-racist, from pointing out actions of racism both overt and subtle to asking questions about the biases of certain processes and societies. An anti-racist person should strive to be continually anti-racist, from overt and brutal actions of racism to asking questions about the biases of certain processes and societies.** Feel free to change the descriptors when talking about other forms of oppression as you need to do.

  * So I can't explore adult/controversial themes?



There's a difference in respectfully touching upon adult and controversial themes and endorsing them. This is all I will say on the matter.

  * Dedue Bear Week



I knew that when I added this line my inbox (on Tumblr) would be RUINED with replies about this. I just knew it. It was either going to be this or another group of people who probably haven't found this yet because I didn't tag it with the certain tag (or tags. I'm being vague about these groups of people, but they have a common factor and I'm just gonna stop there).

Listen to this and read it well: I personally will not retract this point. I said what I said, I meant what I said, I meant what I meant, and that's all with that. I'm glad that I know about the origin of this week now, but I will not take back my apprehension with it considering what I said in essay about the real-life experiences of Black people and Black zoos (which were a thing, look them up, Google is free!), along with what happens in game (and I was nice enough to not even pull up the fact that Dedue is literally **one of the _two_** **playable character who turns into a monster** , which honestly I- *call cuts out*). Am I glad that there's no overt racism involved in the creation of the week? Yes, immensely. Am I still allowed to be wary and apprehensive of it? Yes. Thank you for not doing racist caricatures of Dedue.

  * So, what about Dimidue/any Dedue ship?



This section is being written because one of the mods for Dimidue Week 2020 reached out to me, and I want to cut off some of the confusion quickly: I do not like canon Dimidue, but I do believe that there is a way to write them in a healthy way with their dynamics. Hell, I even attempted it in a fic that's now discontinued, but still on my AO3.

How should it be done? (Although please remember, I'm not the Grand Sovereign of this) First, Dimitri should be a lot more present in how other characters treat Dedue, especially with Ingrid and Felix. There should also be more focus on Dedue and his internal conflict between Dimitri and Duscur, and a reasonable way to show that the two of them work together to actually fix Duscur, with Dimitri actively listening to Dedue and working to try and make them equals in this relationship. Dedue should be allowed to be angry/to cry/to have the same faculties that Dimitri gets, especially about Duscur, especially in public, etc. (Besides maybe the murders.)

Basically, break everything I've said in that section. (Also, please remember that the onus should mostly be on Dimitri here. Yes, Dedue should be a respectful person, but Dimitri has more responsibility here by the nature of their relationship.)

For ships with Dedue in general, don't fetishize him or write a lopsided relationship where he seems to follow their every move. If the person has a hostile attitude towards him and his people, **Dedue has no responsibility to change their minds or fix their racist behavior.**

Just in case, in any circumstance in which there is a person who is harsh to someone else for matters of race/sex/gender/disability/religion/etc. **the person being harmed does not owe the person harming them any forgiveness, or any action to assuage whatever feelings the harmer may have after the action.**

  * I can't believe you're calling out/cancelling someone/a character?



Who. Who am I cancelling. What names do I say? When do I say to deplatform those who have these behaviors (don't get me wrong, I believe we should, but that's a topic for later things).

**If the shoes match....who's the person holding the receipt? Who's the person who made the choice to buy them? If the keystrokes match, who's the person who typed them?**

I'm just talking about behaviors and patterns I see. If you feel like I'm shouting, well, good luck Charlie.

  * Finally, on tone.



I know that on the internet, it is very difficult to parse out a person's tone. To really get the audio cues and inflections that change the connotations of words.

But the next person to leap in my inbox and say that I am being aggressive-

Tone policing is a thing, and while most of the people who have read this are doing a great job of not tone policing (or policing me, at least, there are a few that police others while talking to me and I just want to say: we are not the same, stop that), some people seem to think that I am punching my keyboard with vicious force every time I type a letter. I can't afford to do that, for I am a broke college student with a cheap chromebook. But maybe. Just maybe. Walk with me for a moment.

It's projection? Idk, I'm just the bitch that makes the biscuits.

In the end, thank you to everyone who's reading this. Please try to actively think about how you're interacting with media, the themes in the media you consume, and how it all comes together in your life.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to share. Feel free to chat. (Be disrespectful and I will interact how I see fit)


End file.
